The ''Robert Langdon'' franchise consists of American action-

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

mystery- thriller installments, including three theatrical films directed by

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American filmmaker and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six-decade career, Howard has received List of awards and nominations r ...

, and a television series. The films, based on the

novel series A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publ ...

written by

Dan Brown Daniel Gerhard Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author best known for his Thriller (genre), thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon (book series), Robert Langdon novels ''Angels & Demons'' (2000), ''The Da Vinci Code'' (2003), '' ...

, center on the fictional character of Robert Langdon. Though based on the book series, the films have a different chronological order, consisting of: ''

The Da Vinci Code ''The Da Vinci Code'' is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is “the best-selling American novel of all time.” Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon—the first was his 2000 novel '' Angels & Demons''� ...

'' (2006), '' Angels & Demons'' (2009) and '' Inferno'' (2016), all starring

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

as Langdon, alongside different

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

s. Despite mixed-to-negative critical reception, the films are considered box office successes, having a combined gross total of $1.5 billion worldwide. The television series, a

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

-prequel titled '' The Lost Symbol'' (2021), starring Ashley Zukerman as Langdon, explores the early years of Langdon's career.

Development

's novels about Professor Robert Langdon: '' Angels & Demons'' (2000), ''

'' (2003) and '' Inferno'' (2013), quickly became international bestsellers; they were soon adapted into films by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

with

directing and producing.

Films

Television

''The Lost Symbol''

Following the worldwide successes of the first two films,

began development on a film adaptation of ''The Lost Symbol''. Hanks and Howard were scheduled to return as star and director, with Brian Grazer and John Calley as producers, while a script was collectively co-written by

Steven Knight Steven Knight (born 5 August 1959) is a British screenwriter, producer, and director for film and television. He wrote the screenplays for the films ''Closed Circuit (2013 film), Closed Circuit'', ''Dirty Pretty Things (film), Dirty Pretty Thi ...

, original author Dan Brown, and

Danny Strong Danny Strong (born ) is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. As an actor, Strong is best known for his roles as Jonathan Levinson in ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', Doyle McMaster in ''Gilmore Girls'' and Danny Siegel in '' Mad ...

. By January 2013, the final draft of the script was near completion, with pre-production expected to start later that year. In July 2013, Sony Pictures announced they would adapt '' Inferno'' as the next film instead. In June 2019, the project was announced to be re-conceived as a television series tentatively titled ''Langdon''. The series serves as a prequel to the film series, with Daniel Cerone serving as creator,

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

, chief

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

, and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. Dan Brown, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Francie Calfo, Samie Falvey and Anna Culp will act as additional executive producers. The show was a co-production between Imagine Television Studios,

CBS Television Studios CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount (Network) Television, as a re ...

, and

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a division of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#Universal Studio Group, Universal Studio Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which, in turn, is ...

Studios and was ordered to series on NBC. The plot revolves around a young Robert Langdon, who is hired by the CIA to solve a number of deadly puzzles when his mentor goes missing. By March 2020, Ashley Zukerman had been cast in the lead role. Later that month it was announced that the production had been given a series order and would be moving to

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

. The show premiered on September 16, 2021, concluded on November 18, 2021, and was officially canceled after one season on January 24, 2022.

Cast and characters

Additional crew and production details

Reception

Box office performance

Critical and public response

References

{{Authority control Columbia Pictures franchises Sony Pictures franchises Films based on works by Dan Brown Film series introduced in 2006 Horror film franchises